Archers campaign hits £200,000

You may have read the story in the national press or Paul’s article in The Guardian.

In May, in response to a domestic abuse storyline on Radio 4’s The Archers, Paul set up a page to raise cash for Helen Titchener, the fictional character suffering at the hands of her cruel and manipulative husband Rob.

The money raised would be donated to the charity Refuge. If Paul could raise £1,000 to help real victims of domestic abuse it would be a great achievement, he thought.

Turns out the Archers’ storyline had struck a nerve. It seems there are orders of magnitude more Helen Titcheners out there than people would like to believe, a point Refuge has been making for years.

The page hit £1,000 overnight; then £10,000, £50,000, then £100,000, hundreds of donations pouring in daily.

With over 8,000 donations, the total is now over £200,000 once Gift Aid is factored in. The page is still live and taking donations daily. It’s already the largest single donation the charity has ever received; money that will allow Refuge help thousands of people escape from abusive relationships.

Alongside donations, there are the comments, heart-stopping glimpses of triumph and tragedy that can you can still read on the Just Giving page.